Look, it’s Gov. Sarah Palin at the porn show

The fact that the Consumer Electronics Show runs at the same time as the Adult Entertainment Expo is always fodder for jokes among CES attendees.
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said company co-founder and Chairman Bill Gates gave him some advice for his first CES keynote speech.
“Bill said, ‘Make sure, Steve, you’re at CES, not that ‘other’ convention in Las Vegas,” he said in his Jan. 7 speech. Chuckle chuckle.
Yes, it is bizarre to see all the scantily clad, surgically enhanced women walking around the Sands Convention Center during CES.
I stopped by the 2009 Adult Entertainment Expo to ask some executives if the recession was hurting the porn industry. Short answer: not really. Sure, DVD sales are down, but business is shifting to the Internet.
Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild chief executive Joe Francis recently called for a $5 billion federal bailout of the adult entertainment industry. But they were really seeking publicity rather than federal funds.
Walking through the AEE exhibit area, I spotted the actress who got her 15 minutes of fame portraying Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in a porn movie called “Who's Nailin Paylin?”. The misspelled name apparently protects the producers, Hustler, from lawsuits. (TheSuperficial.com ran a clean clip from the movie. And let’s just say that Oscar won’t be calling.)
The actress (Lisa Ann) was dressed as the 2008 Republican candidate for vice president and was signing autographs and taking photos with fans.
I’ll bet she’s hoping Palin stays in the public eye. Sequel money, baby, sequel money.

Snip, snip, snip and an X-rated flick becomes a G-rated children’s movie

Major adult video studio Digital Playground has sold 500,000 copies of its X-rated adventure flick “Pirates,” which was released in 2005.
The sequel, “Pirate’s II: Stagnetti’s Revenge,” released last fall, is shaping up to be a record-breaking title for the Van Nuys, Calif., company, says Digital Playground Chief Executive Samantha Lewis.
Digital Playground describes “Pirates II” as the most expensive adult movie ever. It features lavish costumes and sets and over 600 special effects. It stars leading adult film actress Jesse Jane.
Like its predecessor, “Pirates II” has been edited for an R-rated version to be made available at Blockbuster, Hollywood Video and elsewhere, Lewis says.
In an interview at the 2009 Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, Lewis told me that the movies stand on their own without the hardcore sex scenes.
“We shot the movie and added the sex in,” she said.
In fact, Digital Playground even made a G-rated version of “Pirates” for the Japanese market, Lewis says.
Can you imagine loving some innocent movie as a kid, only to find out later that scenes actually climaxed in a whole different way?

Maybe there's an unedited version of “The Wizard of Oz” that I haven't seen yet.

CES attendance worse than first thought

Organizers of the Consumer Electronics Show, the nation’s largest tech trade show, late Sunday slashed their estimate for attendance at the 2009 show.
The Consumer Electronics Association, which produces the event, said it estimated attendance at more than 110,000 for the four-day show, which ended Sunday. Before the show, they were targeting 130,000.
The final tally will be determined by an independent audit and will be released in about 90 days.
The CEA notes that its post-show estimate last year was 130,000, but the verified audit determined the actual count was 141,150.
If 110,000 holds, it would mark a 22% drop from last year’s show. The actual attendance could go up to 120,000 or so, but few are expecting the original target of 130,000.
Organizers say they would like to keep future attendance at the 2009 level because it makes the show more manageable and productive for attendees.
That level would be a challenge if CES planners can snag Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs for a high-profile keynote speech and get the company to exhibit too. That’s the rumor anyway.
Apple announced Dec. 16 that it was pulling out of Macworld after the 2009 show, held Jan. 5-9 in San Francisco. Jobs opted not to deliver the keynote at last week’s conference. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, gave the speech instead.
For now, Macworld has vowed to continue without Apple’s participation. Conference organizer IDG has already set a date for the next show: Jan. 4-8, 2010. Wishful thinking perhaps.

Cisco Systems, Dell and Microsoft strike out at the Consumer Electronics Show

Big companies pitching products at the Consumer Electronics Show this year didn’t hit any home runs. Some got solid base hits, while a few struck out.

The good

Sony did a fine job conveying its vision for HDTV and introducing products capitalizing on major cultural trends.
Sony is the furthest along in developing organic light-emitting diode (OLED) televisions. OLED TV is seen as a possible successor to LCD TV, the dominant type of flat-panel high-definition TV sold today. Sony has one small OLED TV on the market now and a pipeline of larger screen sizes in the works.
Sony also introduced cameras and camcorders targeted to users of photo and video sharing sites, like Yahoo’s Flickr and Google’s YouTube. Its new products included the Wi-Fi Cybershot digital camera and pocket-sized Webbie HD camcorder.

Panasonic’s message was clear: It wants to rally industry support for its 3-D television format. Panasonic is the only company proposing a full HD 1080p standard. Rival formats compromise on resolution or color, Panasonic says.
Based on demonstrations of its technology at CES, Panasonic deserves to be the frontrunner.

The bad

Cisco Systems seemed to be at the wrong show.
Most of its CES press conference was a sales pitch to media and entertainment company executives about how to profit on the Web with their content.
Cisco rolled out its Eos software platform, which allows media and entertainment companies to create, manage and grow online communities around their content. Eos lets content owners deliver immersive consumer experiences, while increasing revenue opportunities and reducing operational costs. Warner Music Group has signed on to deploy Eos-powered Web sites for some of its artists.
Journalists grumbled about the presentation and the small room used for the press conference.

Dell was a big tease.
At a press event at the Palms hotel, the No. 2 PC maker in the world unveiled its Adamo luxury computer brand. And that’s about it.
At the end of the media briefing, executives cued runway model Hollis Wakeema, who was sitting to the side of the stage. She pranced on stage and pulled a sleek-looking laptop out of a carrying case. With music playing, she posed “Project Runway”-style with the super thin notebook PC for photographers. Then a minute later, she and the laptop were gone.
Dell wouldn’t give any information about the product, including hardware specs and pricing.
Executives would only say that it is a high-performance notebook with precision craftsmanship and amazing industrial design. It’s expected to launch in the first half of the year.
So basically all Dell announced was a brand name.

Another year, another dull Microsoft keynote about Windows.
Only this time, tech icon and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates wasn’t giving the opening night speech at CES. This year, that task went to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
Ballmer didn’t draw the same size crowd as Gates used to and he seemed to be going through the motions. He lacked that Ballmer passion and wit (especially when it comes to needling rivals) that many of us are used to.
He spoke about Windows 7 (the follow-on to the oft-maligned Windows Vista), as well as Windows Live and Windows Mobile.
The only news was the beta release of Windows 7, which was expected, and several corporate partnerships. The rest was Microsoft rhetoric about connecting the three main devices people use daily – PC, TV and mobile phone.
If you’re not going to dazzle an audience like CES with new products, at least entertain them. The Microsoft keynote this year featured no funny videos or celebrity appearances, which have been a staple in previous years.

The 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was packed with cool gadgets.
Sony continued its leadership in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs.
It already has an 11-inch model on the market, the XEL-1 for $2,500. At this year’s CES, Sony showed 21- and 27-inch OLED TV prototypes in its exhibit area at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
OLED TVs are beautiful and “green.” They are paper thin and energy efficient. The current production model is just 3 millimeters thick and the prototypes are even thinner. OLED televisions can display fast-moving, vibrant video without the need for a bulky backlight.
Plus, OLED TVs beat all when it comes to picture quality. They display rich color and deep contrast. Sony’s current model offers a contrast ratio of 1 million-to-1. It can completely turn off pixels when reproducing black, resulting in greater dark-scene detail.
LG Electronics showed off a 15-inch OLED TV prototype at its booth. Samsung also is working on OLED televisions.
Panasonic earned the biggest wow with its 3-D home theater demonstration.
Panasonic showed 3-D sports and movie clips in full high-definition 1080p resolution on a 103-inch plasma TV. Its 3-D video shot at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was stunning.
Panasonic is pushing to make its technology the industry standard. It claims to have the only full HD 1080p system. Other systems, such that demonstrated by rival Sony, make compromises in color or resolution, says Joseph Taylor, chief operating officer of Panasonic Corporation of North America.
PC makers such as Asus, Dell and Sony trotted out a lot of netbooks at this year’s CES.
Many featured larger screens and full-size keyboards – things lacking from first-generation models. The added functions also bumped up the price of the small, low-cost, wireless computers.
For example, Taiwan’s Asus showed a netbook with a TV tuner, GPS navigation and a swivel display that turns the touch-screen unit into a tablet computer. The device, which has an 8.9-inch screen, sells for $499.
At the opposite end of the notebook PC spectrum is Lenovo’s ThinkPad W700DS. It’s a dual-screen portable workstation starting at about $3,700. It features a 17-inch main screen and a 10.6-inch secondary screen that pops out of the side of the main display.
The 11-pound notebook is designed for engineers and professional photographers who want to work on graphics or photos outside of the office. It includes a digital pad and stylus for making edits to images.
The secondary screen works as an extension of the main display. You can drag and drop application windows from one screen to the other. The smaller screen can be used to display graphics tool menus, e-mail or instant messaging applications.
Another recurring theme at this year’s show was accessing the Internet from living room TVs.
Netgear announced a neat product called the Internet TV Player, which lets couch potatoes access via remote control videos from YouTube and other Web sites. The player also can get live Internet TV and premium on-demand video.
It can stream content from popular sites such as BBC.com, CNN.com, ESPN.com, NBC.com, TMZ.com, YouTube, Yahoo Videos and MetaCafe. It also supports paid movies on demand such as Sonic Solutions’ CinemaNow. Plus, it can access downloaded videos from sites such as BitTorrent.
The compact set-top box should be available this summer for $199, says Vivek Pathela, vice president and general manager of Netgear’s home and consumer products.
Watching a demo of the product, I wondered how long it would be before the quantity and quality of Internet video becomes good enough to be an alternative to cable or satellite.
I can envision dumping cable TV for over-the-air HD broadcasts and Internet streaming or downloadable video at some point.
My monthly cable bill from Comcast is $89.08, including taxes and fees. (I get the standard digital programming package plus a set-top digital video recorder, but no premium channels.)
I already pay for broadband Internet and get Netflix, including streaming video via the Netflix Player by Roku. That Roku box soon will offer new movie releases to rent from Amazon.com’s video-on-demand service.
Given the current economy and need to save money, Comcast might get the boot.

Economic woes hurt attendance at 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas

Organizers of the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas put their best face forward when asked about the impact of the lousy economy on the trade show. They said the show was doing great, despite the recession.
But a look at foot traffic on the show floor during the first two days of the four-day show, which ends Sunday, indicated otherwise. Attendance was down noticeably from recent years.
The show still seemed reasonably well attended, but it was a far cry from the wall-to-wall people packing the exhibit floors in recent years.
Before the show, the Consumer Electronics Association, which sponsors CES, estimated attendance of 130,000, down 8% from the previous year. (The peak year was 2006, when 152,203 people attended.) But I’d say the show was down double-digits from last year.
It was definitely easier to navigate the show floor this year. I could pass the slow-moving gawkers when rushing to get to appointments. In years past, I’d often get stuck in a river of people packing the hallways. (This was my 10th consecutive year covering the show for Investor’s Business Daily.)
It looked as if some planned exhibitors were no-shows. Organizers turned the empty exhibit spaces at the Las Vegas Convention Center into rest areas for attendees by adding tables and chairs. One long hallway between exhibits in the Central Hall was widened and park benches were added.
In the high-flying days of the show, there was never a place to sit down and have lunch or rest your feet. Not this year though. The North and Central halls of the LVCC had large areas in back with tables and chairs where exhibits had been in previous years. In the North Hall there was even a large open area with green carpeting and nothing else.
CES is still healthy, despite the economy. The number of companies represented at the show might have been stable, but those companies probably sent fewer people this year.
It wasn’t like the last two years of Comdex, where it was obvious the once mighty info-tech trade show was dying. (Comdex never returned after its 2003 show.)
The CEA likely will release preliminary attendance figures on Monday, the day after the show closes.

Looking for the successor to FuckedCompany

During the dot-com bust of 2000, FuckedCompany.com – a Web site devoted to tracking tech company layoffs and closures – achieved considerable notoriety. It was the place to turn to for the inside scoop on tech firm downsizings and failures.
Mainstream media referred to the Web site as F***edCompany so as not to offend their sensitive audiences. FuckedCompany had an abrasive style and sponsored a “dot-com dead pool” where readers tried to predict which companies would fail.
FuckedCompany shut down a few years ago when traffic to the site dried up during the tech resurgence, company founder Philip “Pud” Kaplan said in a recent blog post.
Now with the U.S. mired in its worst economy in decades, other sites are stepping up to cover the struggles of tech firms during this recession.
FuckedStartups is similar to FuckedCompany in the way it chronicles failed and troubled tech companies, relying heavily on rumors and tips via e-mail, instant messages and contacts in the field.
Screwdd is another Web site seeking to be the heir to FuckedCompany. It’s largely a news aggregator, posting summaries and links to other news sites.
Another site, Timely Demise, tracks closures in the retail sector. A Twitter site called themediaisdying focuses on layoffs, failures and changes in the media industry.

TechCrunch tags its business failure stories deadpool so they can found in one place. And LayoffBlog.com doesn't limit itself to tech, covering corporate layoffs more broadly.
With all the job losses and business failures, there are lots of opportunities for scoops among this new crop of Web sites.
Rumor sites lately have been abuzz about pending big layoffs at Microsoft. Fudzilla says 15,000 workers could be let go when Microsoft announces the cuts on Jan. 15. That would be almost 17% of the company's work force. The company’s MSN online division likely will be the hardest hit, Fudzilla reports.